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Premier Xi Jinping's administration has no objection to Ghana’s crackdown against illegal mining, commonly referred to as “Galamsey”.

Ghana’s Deputy Head of Mission to China, Dr Charles Dwamena, who made this disclosure, also indicated that the Chinese government has not had cause to express any form of concern regarding the country’s fight to eliminate Galamsey because they believe “it’s purely a matter of enforcement of national law” which Ghana is undertaking.

He was speaking in an exclusive interview with Peacefmonline on the sidelines of a courtesy call on the Ambassador, His Excellency Edward Boateng, paid by a team of Ghanaian journalists who are currently in China for a month-long “Training Course for Radio Broadcasting Techniques for Developing Countries” being organized by China Radio & TV Co. for International Techno-Economic Cooperation (CRTV).

Illegal small-scale mining has long proliferated across Ghana. Many people, including thousands from China, have been drawn into the sector. They are not only said to have invested substantial funds into mining, but have also introduced more sophisticated technologies. Their use of heavy machinery has increased both extraction rates and environmental damage.

The current administration has made it one of its aims to eradicate the menace. In line with that, a joint task-force, made up of over 400 well-trained, experienced and highly motivated officers and men drawn from the Army, Navy and the Air force and the Ghana Police Service, was inaugurated last month.

However, some have said that the massive clampdown on galamsey, which some Chinese nationals are engaged in, could hamper bilateral exchanges and cooperation between the two countries if the Chinese are unduly targeted.

But Dr Dwamena believes otherwise.

“In diplomacy, every country’s sovereignty is protected and jealously guarded. The Chinese government has not waded into the matter. They haven’t dabbled in our country’s affairs and vice-versa. So far as it’s in our statute books that galamsey is illegal and anyone found engaging in it would be justifiably punished, they cannot raise any objection to it,” he stated.

According to him, just as “Ghana cannot unnecessarily object to the Chinese government applying sanctions against a Ghanaian resident in China for contravening their laws here (in China), so also will the Chinese government not interfere when punitive measures are meted out to its nationals” caught engaging in galamsey activities by the Ghana Government.

“The Chinese government and its leaders have no objection to Ghana enforcing its laws as enshrined in the constitution. This is purely a matter of enforcement of laws. It is not subject to interference from any quarters...let’s allow laws to work,” Dr Dwamena added.